Nation: The Silent Ones

Americans' unwillingness to vote has long been something of a scandal,
and last week's election drew the lowest percentage of the electorate
for a nonpresidential election since World War II. An estimated 34% of
eligible voters went to the polls, as compared with 36% in the off-year
election of 1974 and 43.5% in 1970. Experts attribute the latest
decrease to the lowering of the voting age to 18. Because young
people move frequently, they often fail to register for the relatively
unexciting congressional elections. Aside from this indifference, some
nonvoters argue that the...